Popcorn is a highly popular snack food item. In the past, the at-home preparation of popcorn by the consumer involved adding kernel popcorn plus a cooking oil to a covered pot and heating until the popcorn kernels popped to make popcorn. As used herein, "kernel popcorn" refers to unpopped popcorn. The noun "popcorn" or synonymously "popped popcorn" refers herein to popped kernel popcorn. The adjective "popcorn" can refer to either. Once prepared, common, relatively coarse, table salt is a frequently added flavoring or condiment. The resultant salted popped popcorn is a familiar snack food.
More recently, microwave popcorn products have become extremely popular. At present, in the U.S., over 70 different brands of microwave popcorn products are available. In general, the more popular microwave popcorn products comprise an expandable paper bag containing a charge of kernel popcorn, fat and salt. The microwave popcorn article is adapted to be heated in a microwave oven for three to five minutes to produce the popped popcorn. More recently, improved microwave popcorn articles have been fabricated employing a metallized susceptor which facilitates the heating of the kernel popcorn-fat charge and which, in turn, leads desirably to increases in popcorn volume and decreases in unpopped kernels. Microwave popcorn articles of this type are described in detail in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,450,180 (issued May 22, 1984 to J. D. Watkins and incorporated herein by reference).
Microwave popcorn articles, of course, comprise a microwave popping bag and a charge of kernel popcorn, fat, and, usually, salt. Certain early patents taught the addition of kernel popcorn, fat and salt in the form of a prefabricated toroid or doughnut shaped piece. The piece was fabricated by mixing the kernel popcorn, salt and melted fat to form a blend and the blend was allowed to cool and harden into the toroid shape desired. These circular pieces were then dropped into the desired chamber of the popcorn bag prior to final sealing. (See for example U.S. Pat. No. 4,450,180, issued May 22, 1984).
Contemporary methods of filling microwave popcorn bags, however, employ a different filling process and technique. (See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,604,854 entitled Machine For Forming, Filling and Sealing Bags, issued Aug. 12, 1986 to D. W. Andreas). The microwave bags having an unsealed open end are advanced to a first kernel popcorn filling station. While being maintained in an open position, the kernel popcorn is charged to the desired channel. Thereafter, the bags are advanced to a second filling station at which the fat/salt slurry is added to the bag. Typically, the slurry is added in the form of a vertically dispensed pencil jet (i.e., a confined stream) of the slurry. Single station filling methods are also known that involve applying the fat/salt slurry as a spray onto the kernel popcorn as the kernel popcorn falls into the bag. (See, for example WO 95/01105 entitled "Reduced Fat Microwave Popcorn and Method of Preparation" published Jan. 12, 1995, or, equivalently, U.S. Pat. No. 5,960,979 issued Nov. 25, 1997) which is incorporated herein by reference. Such single station filling techniques are especially useful for the preparation of low fat microwave popcorn products.
The bags now containing both kernel popcorn and slurry are then advanced to a sealing station where the bags are provided with a top seal to complete the closure of the bag. The sealed popcorn bags are advanced to subsequent finish packaging operations which complete the folding of the bags, providing the bags with an overwrap, and inserting appropriate numbers of the bags into cartons, etc.
Whether added simultaneously with the kernel popcorn or afterwards, conventional methods involve adding the salt as part of the slurry in order to assure evenness of distribution and the minimization of the likelihood of creating hot spots due to salt clumping. Also, in order to aid suspension of the salt in the melted fat and to avoid plugging of the orifice of the pencil jet nozzle, the salt employed is in the form of a fine powder or flour salt.
The contemporary method for filling popcorn bags involving the sequentially filling (i.e., not at the same time and station) of kernel popcorn and then the slurry is well suited for those conventional microwave popcorn articles.
While employment of finely powdered salt is useful in connection with conventional microwave popcorn articles, there is a present desire for microwave popcorn products more reminiscent of "homestyle" popped popcorn seasoned by larger sized, more granular table salt. However, a variety of problems arise when such coarse crystallized salt is used in the conventional two-step sequential filling step process or a single station filling method.
A first problem can reside in the slurry viscosity. The slurry viscosity rises rapidly as more particulates are added. If an additional particulate is desired to be added to the slurry such as for flavor or mineral fortification, then addition of requisite amounts of salt to the slurry results in a slurry having a paste consistency and a viscosity too high to pump.
A second problem is plugging of the orifice of the pencil jet nozzle used to charge the slurry to the bag that can occur when a larger sized salt particle is added to the slurry. While plugging is a problem when salt alone is added to the slurry, such plugging problems are compounded when the slurry contains supplemental particulates.
Still another problem with adding coarse salt to the slurry is that coarse salt is more likely than flour salt to settle out from the slurry in the make-up kettle prior to charging the slurry to the microwave popcorn bag. As a possible result, the uniformity of the amount of salt added to the bag can vary widely. Some bags will have too much salt while others too little.
Still another problem associated with adding coarse salt to the slurry is that finished microwave popcorn articles upon subsequent microwave heating preparation might exhibit undesirable hotspots due to excessive localized salt build-ups. Such hot spots in turn can result in excessive heating and burning of the popped popcorn.
Given the state of the art as described, there is a continuing need for new and improved microwave popcorn articles of enhanced consumer appeal. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide new and improved microwave popcorn articles.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a microwave popcorn article having a salt component wherein the salt present is characterized by an enlarged coarse particle size which upon microwave heating can provide a popped finished popcorn product more reminiscent of homestyle popped popcorn, topped with table salt.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide microwave popcorn articles which upon microwave heating produce popcorn having salt distributions which are relatively more heterogeneous within a single bag than conventionally prepared flavor salt bearing microwave popcorn but consistent homogeneous distribution from one bag to the next.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide improved commercially practical filling methods for use in manufacturing microwave popcorn products having coarse salt.
Another object of the present invention is to provide improved methods of filling microwave popcorn bags with kernel popcorn, fat, and coarse salt that minimize the problem of fouling of the orifice of the fat application pencil jet nozzle.
It has been surprisingly discovered that the above objectives can be realized and that microwave popcorn articles can be provided that exhibit novel consumer appeal. In the preferred embodiment, the present invention resides in part in the separate, sequential filling of kernel popcorn, fat and coarse salt at their individual respective filling stations. By applying the kernel popcorn/fat/salt separately in the particular sequence in combination with selecting salt of a particular particle size range, improved microwave popcorn articles are achieved. Such improved microwave popcorn articles yield organoleptic improvements in the popped product in that the product is more reminiscent of homestyle popped popcorn which is topped with table salt.